Pistachio Pesto from Copper Crown

By adminLynn on April 4, 2013

You may know, I taste near ’bout everything we carry here. So, when I tell you we have a phenomenal new product, I am speaking from experience. At the tasting table today: Vegan Pesto and Brazilian Pesto from Copper Crown. We have five flavor combinations and they change according to what’s in season. The creator of these amazingly good pestos is a chef at Copper Crown Fine Foods & Catering.

pesto_coppercrownWhat’s wonderful about this product is that the chef has values in alignment with the values at Neighbors Market: supporting our local economy, clean food, all natural products. The pistachios are grown by Classic Foods out of California and the balance of the ingredients come from Oregon-Washington farmers. That pretty much satisfies the question about humane treatment of workers and animals by virtue of just knowing who the farmers are (Chef David sees most of them at weekly Farmers Markets) and definitely supports our local economy. Oh, and I don’t want to leave out what an extraordinary taste experience these pestos are.

Check out the farmers:
This video features Rick Steffin of Rick Steffin Farm.
Deep Roots Farm
The FaceBook page for Springwater Farm
Gee Creek Farm and Mill
Gathering Together Farm
You can find them all at the Portland Farmers Market and you’ll find these delicious pestos in our cooler and freezer. Don’t forget the Partners Crackers or fresh local breads to pair with the pesto.

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George’s All Purpose Greens Recipe

By adminLynn on March 11, 2013

George’s All Purpose Greens Recipe

Serves 4*

(I used tronchuda and enjoyed the sweetness of this dish)

tronchuda
To prepare: cut on the vertical two medium onions; mince 6 or more cloves of garlic;

chop  about ½-3/4 pound  of greens** after de-stemming. Chop stems separately. Option: matchstick at least one carrot. Option: cut fennel bulb on the vertical.

 

tronchuda_wineTo begin: Sauté onions in olive oil with as much garlic as you like. When translucent add one tablespoon of honey. Set Aside.  Option: Sauté carrots in grapeseed oil until crisp. Set aside on paper towel to drain. Sauté green’s stems and/or fennel bulb until soft. Set aside.

 

Heat ½ to 1 cup wine in a pan big enough to hold greens that has a lid. For wine we use George’s Homemade Wines, usually mead or ginger wine, but a sweeter white works—Gewurz, Riesling, etc. Add greens and cover until JUST wilted. Do not overcook!tronchuda_cooking

 

Stir in all other ingredients except carrots and put on a platter. Garnish top with crisped carrots. Option: Sprinkle with Island’s End Farm sweet onion chips. Option: Sprinkle with roasted nuts, your choice. We use hazelnuts or sliced almonds. Option: Dust with fresh grated parmesan.tronchuda_finish

 

 

*George never measures anything, so this is a guesstimate as to how many it will serve.

 

**Greens may be a mix of beet greens, spinach, chard, perpetual spinach, kale of any type, collards, turnip greens, bok choy, tatsoi, cabbage leaves or tronchuda in any combination to equal ½ to ¾ pound. To quote George: ‘whatever’s around!”

Thank you to the farmers at Island’s End Farm.

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Dr. Neale’s Juice Recipe

By adminLynn on October 9, 2012

Shake Recipes

Vary amounts of the below listed ingredients to your taste and based on the quantity you want. Local, organic, and sustainably grown vegetables have the most dense vitamin and mineral content, have no additives (i.e. pesticides that are harmful to your body), and are grown responsibly ensuring future harvests.

Flavor and Anti-oxidants and Vitamins

Banana
Kiwi
Mango
Fresh or Frozen berries
Apple

Liquid and Fats

Coconut milk
Water or Ice Cubes
Nut milk (made from nuts and water)

Dense Mineral and Vitamin and Fiber

Kale
Spinach
Chard
Carrots

Fats and Fiber

Flax seeds (raw and keep frozen)
Chia seeds (raw and keep frozen)
Sunflower seeds (raw and keep frozen)
Sesame seeds (raw and keep frozen)

Protein and Fats and Liquid

Cashews (raw and keep frozen)
Almonds (raw and keep frozen)
Pecans (raw and keep frozen)
Walnuts (raw and keep frozen)

Example Combination + Amounts:

Choose 1-2 items from each category above.
Add ¼ cup coconut milk.
Add small handful of nuts
Add small handful of seeds.
Add water till nicely liquefied.
Add two pieces of kale.
Add ½ carrot.
Add ¼ honey crisp apple.
Add a handful of blueberries.
Add more coconut milk until nicely liquefied.

Makes about two tall shakes depending on the size of your hand. 

Benefits:

It’s FAST and easy to clean up when you have a decent blender (Vitamix).
Stabilize metabolism and blood sugar.
A variety of dense nutrition in a highly absorbable form that is quick to eat.
Sustained energy throughout day (given you continue to eat & eat well throughout the day).
A happy digestive system.
A happy endocrine (hormone) system. Especially if you cycle the seeds.
Better mood.
Better ability to manage stress and tasks.
A sense of satisfaction that you had a top-notch breakfast and a fantastic start to your day.
AND Better overall well-being and energy.
Bragging rights.

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Caldera Amber. My new camping beer?

By adminLynn on May 4, 2012

I’m checking out this smooth Ashland Amber and imagining myself after the end of a hiking day or maybe at the pinnacle of my motorcycle riding day. On a good, hot day, this is going to be a refreshing and flavorful reward. I like it because it tastes amber (and no, other than that, I don’t know what to call it), it’s not “too” much of anything. I like toasty malt flavors and I detected nice toasty here. There’s enough of the hop to keep it from laying heavy on my tongue and enough crisp to be noticed.

Neighbors Market reviews Ashland Amber

My new camping buddy

Referring to the Alewife description, an American Amber is: “Primarily a catch all for any beer less than a Dark Ale in color, ranging from amber (duh) to deep red hues. This style of beer tends to focus on the malts, but hop character can range from low to high. Expect a balanced beer, with toasted malt characters and a light fruitiness in most examples. The range can run from a basic ale, to American brewers who brew faux-Oktoberfest style beers that are actually ales instead of lagers.”

For me, that is a good summation of the Caldera Brewing Ashland Amber. In the vein of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this beer is just right.

The company has a great supporting rationale for canning craft beers.

I think I have a new camping buddy.

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Odin’s Gift and Salmon

By adminLynn on May 4, 2012

The brewer’s notes: “Odin’s Gift formerly known as “Ruby Ale,” is a filtered, ruby-colored ale brewed in small hand-crafted batches. Just the right amount of hops topped with juniper berries results in a bold yet well-balanced flavor and a wonderfully fresh aroma. This versatile ale pairs well with a wide variety of food.
Aroma- Fresh, malty, medium hoppy floral
Top Note- Caramel, malty
Middle Note- Juniper arrives with a slightly nutty tone
Finishing Note- Hops offer medium bitterness, clean juniper finish
Color- Deep clear red
Alcohol By Volume- 5.4% (final gravity 1.012)
25 IBU
Recommended Pairings-Lean meats, including game, pasta, fish and poultry”.

Neighbors Market reviews Odin's Gift

Odin's Gift

And so, after savoring a couple of long, slow swallows of this beer, trying to detect the juniper, I dug out the salmon from last night’s dinner. I already liked the beer, so I wondered what it would be like with salmon, which I find hard to pair to any beverage. Well, first of all, kudos to my darling because the salmon was even better cold than hot. And, I’ll be dog-goned if that giftly Odin didn’t taste just fine following on the heels (tail?) of the salmon. I’m sold.

The Odin’s Gift is something to be grateful for.

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Fearless Scottish Ale from a can

By adminLynn on May 4, 2012

Fearless beer at Neighbors Market

Fearless Tasting

This review is on the “Fearless Scottish Ale” from Fearless Brewing. I put this beer at a slight disadvantage by sampling two other beers before it. But it holds up well. The other two beers, also quite good, did more to introduce this beer than to dilute it’s enjoyment.

Scottish Ales character, according to CraftBeer.com: “These ales from the Isles tend to emphasize malt sweetness over hop bitterness. Hops are difficult to grow in the north of Scotland and Ireland, so the alternative was to use a variety of roasted malts to enhance flavor. The exceptions are the well-hopped English bitters and pale ales of the south of England. The ale yeast used in these beers produces spicy and fruity characteristics.”
And according to RateBeer.com “Scottish Ale
Scottish ales are very malty, full-bodied, lightly hopped brews. Some are not fully fermented leaving behind residual sugars and malty.

Some Scottish Ales to look at:
McEwan’s Scottish Ale
Road Dog Scottish Ale
Beam Me Up Scottish Ale”

According to Moi: “Lovely to look at, and offering some of the spicy and fruity character of the Scottish RateBeer suggests, it’s light on the smokey or peaty character I’d expect and perhaps a bit sharper in the hops than the Craft Beer guide would suggest. I had this from a can, at home, and I think it would definitely be worth the carry on a backpack trip. I think this is a great end of day sort of beer and would probably be right at home with a plate of fish and chips.”

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Sweet-tea from Sweet Leaf

By adminLynn on March 18, 2012

I have fond and strong familial emotions around the topic of sweet tea.  In my southern childhood, sweet tea was an every day beverage, as essential to the day as, well, as water.  More so perhaps.  Here’s one thing non-southerners don’t seem to grasp about making sweet tea: you have to mix the sugar into the hot tea water.  You can’t add the sugar after the fact, it just won’t turn out right.  And don’t even think you can have sweet tea with artificial sweetener.   Uh-uh.

While I can go on about good tea and maybe later I will reminisce about tea, today I want to talk about why I have added Sweet Leaf Tea to my product line up.

Since I didn’t have time to track down a local store and try them out, I went strictly on the information on their website. It’s a good story and since they appear to still be an independent company with sustainable values, seemed like a risk worth taking.

When the product got here, I opened up the peach flavor tea. I probably would have gone with the straight up sweet tea, but the distributor guy says the peach is a big seller. So, that’s the first one I tried. The other is the mint. Now, from way back, we drank sweet tea straight. No fancy-pants extra flavors. Not even mint, although considering how well mint will grow in the south, that’s kind of a surprise now.

The peach Sweet Leaf is tasty and the peach flavor does remind me of the sweet flavor of a tree-ripened peach of my childhood. For that, I say “Bravo! Well done!” On the other hand, over this last year of my food journey, I’ve learned to be skeptical of, well, everything. On their ingredient list they say “with the rich flavor of peach” and their ingredient list says “natural peach flavor” which is not the same as “flavored with peach juice” or even “peach juice concentrate”. And having learned that what labeling laws will allow to be called “natural” versus what I consider “natural” can be starkly different, I’m not sold on that tag either.

I’ve sent an email and left a voice mail to get clarification. In the meantime, I’m going to presume innocent until proven guilty and figure that mostly this is a good product from a good company and worthy of being in my store.

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